I have long thought that radio traffic reports were a good way to find out why the jam you are in occurred. And now proof.
M1 southbound 12:16 today about 5 miles from M25 junction. Two car smack outside lane opposite carriageway. Cars in outside land and people milling about in the central reservation. Two inside lanes and hard shoulder looks clear. Had a recently happened look about it. No police on site but a tailback to the M25 junction of stationary traffic had built up so say 30 minutes old?
12:21 Three Counties Radio traffic report. M1 clear. Two further traffic reports before parking up and switching off engine at 12:50. M1 clear...
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A-ha, Three Counties... I have long held the suspicion their announcer checks the traffic on teletext when they arrive at the office at 7am, and repeats that same information at 15-minute intervals throughout the day. More than once they have either spent hours warning drivers off a long-since cleared queue, or reported a clear road when it was anything but.
It's also quite clear that the girl reading the reports out doesn't drive, or know anything whatsoever of the area she's describing, judging by the obvious errors peppering their traffic bulletins.
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I passed this one too, luckily southbound wasn't too backed up. Trafficmaster didn't know about it either.
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I have long thought that radio traffic reports were a good way to find out why the jam you are in occurred. And now proof. M1 southbound 12:16 today about 5 miles from M25 junction. Two car smack outside lane opposite carriageway. Cars in outside land and people milling about in the central reservation. Two inside lanes and hard shoulder looks clear. Had a recently happened look about it. No police on site but a tailback to the M25 junction of stationary traffic had built up so say 30 minutes old? 12:21 Three Counties Radio traffic report. M1 clear. Two further traffic reports before parking up and switching off engine at 12:50. M1 clear...
Do they have a facility where you can phone in and inform them of a recently ocurred accident?
Sorry to climb back onto a slightly worn hobby horse of mine but, LBC 97.3 FM and 1152 AM have regular updates, quite accurate - but not infallible, of course and they invite you to phone in with reports. only thing I can't stand is that the girl (normally a girl) often reads the report with exaggerated spacing between words.
LBC (I am not an employee or shareholder) operates inside the M25 - roughly speaking.
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Radio traffic 'reports' - the ones that tell you around rush hour that rush hour traffic is busy, that there are the usual queues near Heathrow, that it's nose to tail on the Aston Expressway etc - are of course nothing of the sort on local commercial radio. Someone earlir in the thread suggested it might be parroting information on teletext. Not so far from the truth in many cases. It's just the same when they take you over to the Fab FM 'newscentre' - one bloke on the other side of the region reading what's running on the Press Association feed and using some 'lame' funny from a commercially-driven survey to wrap up. Dismal.
BBC local radio can be a bit bitter (although they are often prone to stating the obvious at rush hour) because they often take their elad from traffic cameras.
Best seems to be Radio 2 and Five Live, largely because they are the most listened to stations on the move and can't afford to get it wrong.
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I'd agree with Morris Ox, on the Motorways and trunk roads Five Live sets the standard.
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Radio 2 and Radio 5 live take reports of jams from drivers, many with names like some of the Backroomers. Maybe they just want Sally Bowles to read their names out, but some seem to be regulars, giving good, up to date information. If one of you has the telephone number it might be a good idea for all of us to stick it in our phones so we can help everyone else.
HJ
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Much as I like to hear from Miss Bowles I find the Radio 2 Traffic Reports a pain in the neck - especially on a Friday afternoon.
I want to know what is unusual for the time of day and route, not spend 10 minutes being told that the M25 and M6 (J8 upwards) are solid at 5pm on a Friday. Many of her callers are reporting what is usual for the area but as they are not regular travellers in the area they believe it is a major problem.
I prefer the local radio news which is generally more switched on to the unusual events. I just with they could coordinate their RDS reports so you do not miss the WM traffic report because you are listening to the Stoke report.
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Radio 2 works well however before I leave the office I allways check out the BBC web site www.bbc.co.uk/london/travel/travelinfo/m25.shtml
Its updated every 15 mins, has different geographic sections covered in detail and is based on traffic cams and police info. It hasnt let me down to date.
I would also recommend Trafficmaster which is based on realtime traffic movements
www.trafficmaster.co.uk/
I might not be able to avoid the jams but at least I know where they are and how long it will take me to get home
Drive Safe
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